Sports Betting Offers

When it comes to sports the free bet is king. And whilst you will find other kinds of offers at some sites, the vast majority will award their sign up offer in the form of a free bet so that’s where we’ll start. Free bets have a pretty descriptive name – it’s a bet you get for free – but there are a few things you might want to know about them:

1. You Need to Place a Bet First – Whilst the bet you receive is free you’ll need to trigger it by depositing and placing a bet of your own. The free bet may then be given to you as soon as your bet is placed, or alternatively held back until your first bet settles.
2. Minimum Odds Normally Apply – This applies to both the bet you need to place to trigger the free one as well as the free bet that you receive in return. The minimum odds varies wildly between sites, with some going as low as 1/5 (1.2) and others sticking it at evens (2.0).
3. The Stake Often Isn’t Returned – Normally when you place a winning bet you receive your profit plus your stake, so if you bet £10 at evens and win you’ll receive £20 back (£10 stake + £10 profit). With a free bet it’s more common to only receive the profit element as the stake never really existed.
4. Your Winnings Could Be Wager Free – It’s still common for your winnings to be free of any kind of wager requirements, meaning that whilst you don’t tend to get the stake added to your balance what you do have added is yours to keep. Some sites do have a playthrough on the winnings but thankfully these seem to be in the minority.

That’s how free bets work, but what about the other types? There are two main other kinds of offers that you’ll come across for sports:

• Matched Bonuses – The idea is similar to a matched bet but instead of giving you a free bet you receive a chunk of bonus cash. There are two main differences between bonuses and free bets, however.
  1. The bonuses do tend to come with wagering requirements.
  2. The maximum bonus is often much larger than a single free bet.
• Enhanced Odds – This is another alternative that was popular a couple of years ago but less so now. With an enhanced odds offer instead of a free bet you receive bigger odds on a specific bet. These odds can be significantly higher than the normal odds, giving you 4x or 5x the regular value, or even up to 30x or more in some extreme cases. As with everything there are catches though:
  1. You have to place the bet that’s being offered, there’s not normally much choice.
  2. The maximum stake is normally quite low and often relative to the odds. So smaller enhancements have bigger max stakes whilst the crazy 30x ones are limited to £1.

Casino Bonus Offers

When it comes to the casino there are two main kinds of offer you’re going to see: free casino credits and free casino spins. Sometimes you’ll also see bundles that combine both formats in one package, so one deposit may trigger a combination of bonus chips and free spins.

Within these offer types there are lots of variations but these are the key bits to watch out for:

• Bonus Chips – On the surface these are quite simple, make a deposit and receive a bonus. Often the bonus is straight match, meaning that whatever you deposit you’ll receive again as a bonus (up to a limit) but there are also sites that offer bonuses worth double, triple or even more. So your £10 deposit could well turn into a £50 bonus. Almost without exception these bonuses will have wagering requirements that you must complete before your winnings are turned into regular cash. Normally the bigger the bonus (or the higher the percentage match), the bigger the wagering requirements will be.
• ‘Free’ Spins – There has been issues raised by various advertising agencies over the years over the wording of ‘free spins’ as they’re often not really the same as a free version of a normal cash spin. In lots of cases the winnings are awarded as bonuses with added wagering requirements, effectively meaning that your spins are a route to a receiving a bonus of an unknown amount. The other way that the spins can differ is through a maximum win which limits the amount you can win from the free spins. This is normally the case when you see large numbers of spins, such as 100. Especially when the spins are given without needing a deposit.
• True Free Spins – There are, however, some sites who do offer true free spins, sometimes called ‘wager free spins’. With these you’re given a set number of free goes and whatever you win is yours to keep with no wagering requirements or caps on the size of the win. Understandably, the sites that offer these kinds of casino spins dish out a much smaller number than the traditional free spin – so you might get 20 wager free spins compared to 100 regular free spins.

Bingo Bonus Offers

Bingo offers come in a wide variety of formats. Sometimes you’ll see a straight bingo bonus, normally offering a high bonus relative to your initial stake such as a £30 bonus on a £5 deposit. It is also becoming increasingly common to see hybrid bingo and games offers where your bonus could be split into two parts, one for bingo and one for side games:

• Bingo Bonus – Normally a fixed bonus triggered by a relatively low initial deposit and spend on bingo games. Actual amounts vary but it’s not uncommon for the trigger to be £5 or £10 and the bonus be five or six times this amount. These often have low wagering requirements such as one or two times the bonus. It is less common for sites to offer deposit matches (eg: deposit £100, get £100) but it does happen from time to time.
• Bingo & Games Bonus – When the bonus is split into two parts the bingo bonus normally works as it does for a bingo only bonus, with relatively low wagering requirements. The games portion, however, does tend to require a higher playthrough. The games portion of the bonus could also be given in the form of free spins, such as 100 free spins on a specific slot. In this scenario the wagering requirements tend to be attached to the winnings from the free spins, rather than the spins themselves.

You may also find you have temporary access to a special freebie room when you sign up that offers prizes to new players, normally in addition to the main welcome bonus.